Monday, July 02, 2012

Stuyvesant High School Caught In Cheating Scandal On New York Regents Exams

This from The N Y Daily News:

Student allegedly used banned cell phone 
to distribute answers to over 50 classmates 

In a stunning new cheating scandal, a student has been forced out of the city’s top public school — Stuyvesant High — over allegations he used a cell phone to give test answers to more than 50 other students.

The student, identified in an online petition as Nayeem Ahsan, was caught photographing the citywide Spanish exam last week, the Daily News has learned.

A proctor who noticed the suspect behavior searched Ahsan’s phone and discovered the boy also took pictures of his physics and English state Regents exams — and distributed the answers to classmates, sources said.

The junior was disciplined last week and will not be returning to Stuyvesant. The city Education Department would not discuss any specifics of the ongoing probe into the student’s shenanigans.
“The allegation of cheating is under investigation,” said Education Department spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.

In an online petition at change.org, Ahsan’s fellow students demanded his reinstatement in the school.
“Nayeem Ahsan is a valued member of the Stuyesant community,” says the petition, which misspelled the name of the school. “He plays an integral role in school morale, photographing all major school events among the countless other selfless deeds he's done for the class of 2013. His absence would leave the senior class of 2013 defunct.
Expulsion from his home for the last three years is an exorbitant repercussion for his mistake, Nayeem does not deserve to have his future ripped out of his hands, simply so the administration can set an example.”
The petition drew 251 signatures.

Elite Stuyvesant High School in downtown Manhattan admits just the top tier of eighth-graders who ace the city’s exam for specialized high schools.

Each year, the school ships its graduates off to top colleges, and this year it boasted a third-place finish for the prestigious Intel prize — considered a junior Nobel award for scientific achievement.
The alumni rolls read like a who’s who of nationally recognized achievers, ranging from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to actor Tim Robbins.

The dozens of students who may have benefited from the cheating scandal have not yet been disciplined, sources said...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are telling me that kids cheat on tests?!?!

If kids are cheating on tests and teachers are cheating on tests, then sounds like we are not teaching the right things in school and most certainly these exams are not measuring those most important elements.

Anonymous said...

Just read where 70 students have been implicated and this prestegious school is throwing out their test scores and maybe even a few students. Seems that saving poor Nayeem is the least of his classes worries at this point.

It is good to see the school taking a firm stand but one can not help but consider that this is not the first class to do this much less through the advance technology means we have. Like the previous comment, it would seem that there exists a student culture which if not engaged in cheating,is neither inclined to report it. Reminds me of the mass cheating scandal at the service academy a number of years ago with the electric exam. If that controlled and student selective environment can't keep its students from cheating, hazzing and sexually harrassing, then I am not sure how we are going to do much better under the conditions which public school function.